Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 2.djvu/360

 their fat, which is an excellent combustible. Their liver is also good food, if nothing better can be had. Sometimes they could be counted by hundreds, and two or three miles away from the ship the ice was bored all over with their breathing holes; yet they were very difficult to secure, and many were wounded that succeeded afterwards in making their escape below the ice.

However, on the 19th, Simpson managed to get hold of one not far from the ship. He had taken the precaution to stop up its hole, so that it was at the mercy of the hunters. After a long struggle the animal was dispatched; it measured nine feet, and was a magnificent specimen. The doctor, wishing to preserve the head for his museum of natural history and the skin for future needs, prepared both, by a cheap and easy method. He plunged the body in the fire-hole, and allowed the myriads of shrimps and prawns to eat away the flesh. In half a day the operation was complete, and no tanner in Liverpool could have done it better.

As soon as the sun had passed the autumnal equinox, the Arctic winter may be said to begin. From the 23rd of September the sun begins to descend below the horizon, and on the 25th of October disappears altogether, not to return till the month of February.

We must not imagine, however, that the darkness is total during the sun's long absence. The moon does her best to replace him, and the stars shine their brightest. The planets are peculiarly resplendent, and the Aurora Borealis is a frequent phenomenon, so that there is a sort of twilight for several hours every day, except when fog and snow wrap the whole region in gloomy night.

Meantime, however, the weather was favorable. No one had any reason to complain of it, except the ptarmigans and the hares, and the hunters positively allowed them no rest. They also set fox-traps, but the wary animals would not allow themselves to be caught. They often even scratched up the snow under the trap and devoured the bait, and came off scot free.

On the 25th of October a hurricane of extreme violence broke loose; thick snow filled the air, and made pitch darkness about the Forward. For some hours great anxiety was felt on board about Bell and Simpson, who were out hunting. They did not reach the ship till next day, after